Avionics News December 2014 - 14

In this monthly column, Ric Peri of the AEA's Washington, D.C., oﬃce, informs members of the latest regulatory updates.

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A EA V I C E P R ES I D E N T O F G OV E R N M E N T & I N D U ST RY A F FA I RS

The View from Korea
T

iming is everything, or so they say - whoever "they"
are. In October, my schedule had a conflict, and I
wasn't able to attend this year's National Business
Aviation Association Convention and Exhibition. I attended
NBAA 16 straight years, but it was not to be this year. Instead, I met with the aerospace industry in Seoul, Republic
of Korea.
But first, to set the record straight, let me quote Jean-Luc
Picard, a character of Star Trek fame: "Reports of my assimilation are greatly exaggerated." I have not left the Aircraft
Electronics Association. If you are one of the dozen or so
connections in my LinkedIn profile, I apologize for spamming
your inbox. Recently, I updated my LinkedIn profile, and it
distributed a broadcast email suggesting that my contacts congratulate me on my "new job." But I don't have a new job;
I simply updated my experience to reflect my election to the
ASTM board of directors, which occurred two years ago. The
AEA, like many of its member companies, encourages participation in public and private advisory boards, committees
and governance boards - as long as it supports the industry.
In the past, the AEA has been represented on academic advisory boards, trade association boards, accreditation boards, as
well as local chambers of commerce. All in all, like the AEA
membership, the AEA generally believes in "giving back" to
the industry and our local communities.
The purpose of this introduction, other than confirm the
rumors of my departure are greatly exaggerated, is to challenge you to participate in the governance of your trade
association. The AEA always welcomes new ideas and leadership to a variety of committees. For example, if you have
interest in serving on the AEA Government and Industry
14

avionics news

december

2014

Affairs Committee, contact the committee chair, Mike
LaConto of Epps Aviation. For more information about serving on AEA committees, visit www.aea.net/committees.asp.
The purpose of my trip to Korea was to attend the fall
board of director's meeting for ASTM International. During
the board meeting, the directors visited with officials from
various industries who utilize the standards in their own
respective industry. In my case, those are the wiring and
system standards as well as the light sport airplane, and the
recent addition of the light aircraft standards (Part 23). Last
year, our board meeting was in Chicago and had a scheduled
visit to the Federal Aviation Administration's regional office,
only to have it postponed due to the government budget
crunch. However, I had the opportunity to visit the Argonne
National Laboratory, which I wrote about in the December
2013 issue of Avionics News. This year, our ASTM board's
outreach was to the aerospace industry in Korea.
The ASTM staff organized meetings with industry representatives to promote ASTM and, of course, our own businesses. Being one of three directors with an aviation background, I visited the Korean Ministry of National Defense
procurement office as well as Korea Aerospace Industries, a
South Korean aerospace company.
One of the first things I noticed when arriving in Seoul
was the number of rooftop helipads on many office buildings. After I asked a few questions, it became clear they are
more for firefighting and rescue, and emergency medical
services than corporate transportation. In fact, I only saw
one civil aircraft, or what appeared to be a civil aircraft, a
distant helicopter.
As measured by the aviation standards of Europe,

http://www.aea.net/committees.asp

Avionics News December 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News December 2014